Tennis training aides are well known in many forms. Despite the plethora of such devices, there has not been, to date, a device having particular utility and effectiveness for training one to properly serve a tennis ball to commence a match.
It is well recognized that the single most important aspect of the mechanics of a tennis serve is that the hitting arm is fully extended upward during the striking motion. Although one might think this would be a relatively simple matter to master, if not most, novice tennis players find this to be quite difficult. Stated differently, it is critical for an appropriate service stroke that the racquet meets the ball at full extension.
One way some players make themselves reach up for the ball is by keeping the entire arm straight throughout the swing. This “windmill serve” puts a tremendous strain on one's shoulder and could result in shoulder damage. In addition, it is important that one bends one's elbow in preparation for striking the ball. The proper mechanics of the serving swing depends upon throwing the lower half of the arm upward from a deeply bent elbow to a straight one. With a loose wrist, this causes all of the energy coming from one's legs, torso and arm to be translated into whipping the racquet upward and forward at the ball. If one swings with a straight arm the racquet speed is limited by how fast the arm can rotate around one's shoulder joint. If one bends one's arm while keeping one's wrist loose, the whipping effect generates far greater racquet hit speeds.
As noted above, there has not been, to date, an effective device to encourage proper service motion.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a device for training a user to develop the appropriate mechanics for properly serving a tennis ball.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a training tool to enable one to develop the proper mechanics for service of a tennis ball which is inexpensive to construct, simple and intuitive to use and which is devoid of undue complexity.
These and further objects will be more readily apparent when considering the following disclosure.